Generally, a headrest for supporting a passenger's head to increase safety and comfort is mounted to a seat, which is installed in a vehicle. In particular, deluxe vehicles have recently been designed and manufactured to have a structure in which various conveniences are provided in order to provide various additional functions, in addition to a simple function of enabling a headrest to support the passenger's head. For example, in order to minimize the impact that occurs when the neck of the passenger is pulled back in the event of a rear-end collision or a head-on collision, an active headrest apparatus, which is configured such that a headrest, which operates in conjunction with a seat, is moved forwards and supports the passenger's neck, is employed. Furthermore, a display device is installed in the rear portion of a front seat headrest, so that rear seat passengers can view broadcasts, and an apparatus for electrically adjusting the height and angle of a headrest is also employed.
When various additional conveniences are provided as described above, power lines, which are used to supply power to the actuating units of a headrest, are disposed in a seat main body. The conventional headrest apparatus for vehicle seats, described above, is schematically shown in FIG. 1.
As shown in the drawing, a pair of coupling holders 40 is fixedly mounted in a seat main body 10, the side portions of a support 30, which is coupled to a headrest 20, are inserted into respective coupling holders 40 so as to be moved upwards and downwards, and power lines 50, which extend from the seat main body 10 to the headrest 20, are disposed in the support 30.
The above-described headrest apparatus is configured such that the height of the headrest 20 can be appropriately adjusted by raising and lowering the support 30 through the coupling holders 40, and the headrest 20 can be mechanically separated by pulling the support 30 out of the coupling holders 40.
However, in the conventional headrest apparatus, the power lines 50 are disposed in the support 30, as shown in the drawings, and thus the headrest 20 can be coupled to or separated from the seat main body 10 only after the disposed lines are handled, that is, the conventional headrest apparatus has a structure in which the headrest 20 and the seat main body 10 cannot be mechanically and electrically coupled to each other in a single step. Accordingly, when it is required to repair and replace the headrest 20 itself, or various actuating units, which are provided in the headrest 20, there are problems in that it is very inconvenient to separate or couple the headrest 20, and in that it takes a lot of time.
Furthermore, in the same manner as in a process of manufacturing seats, when the seat main body 10 and the headrest 20 are assembled with each other, the mechanical and electrical coupling must be accomplished through individual tasks, so that there are problems in that it is inconvenient to conduct work, and in that productivity is lowered.